It is well known in motor vehicles to have an instrument panel assembly which consists of an instrument panel cover attached to rigid underlying vehicle structure. It is also well known to mount an air bag to the underlying vehicle structure for deployment through an air bag deployment opening provided in the instrument panel cover. The opening in the instrument panel cover is conventionally closed by an air bag deployment door secured in a closed position to conceal the undeployed air bag from view. The door is hingedly mounted so that the deploying air bag forcibly moves the door out of the opening from the closed position towards an open position to permit the deployment of the air bag through the opening. It is known in the prior art that the hinge for the deployment door may be a flexible or elastic strap, or a metal strap.
In some cases, the deployment door hinge extends between the deployment door and the instrument panel cover. Thus, the instrument panel cover provides support for the hinge to anchor the door to the vehicle during air bag deployment. This arrangement is convenient since the hinge can be sub-assembled and fastened to the instrument panel cover and deployment door before installation of the instrument panel cover into the vehicle.
In other cases, it is desirable for the hinge to extend between the deployment door and the more rigid vehicle structure underlying the instrument panel cover to anchor the door to the vehicle during air bag deployment. However, a disadvantage of this arrangement is that access is required underneath the instrument panel cover during installation into the vehicle to fasten the hinge to the vehicle structure.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a new and improved hinge which would extend between the deployment door and vehicle structure to anchor the door to the vehicle during air bag deployment without requiring access underneath the instrument panel cover to fasten the hinge to the vehicle structure during installation into the vehicle.